So, you wanna run a role-playing game for you and your friends, huh?
Tips for new Dungeon Master’s, Game Master’s, Judges, Referees, Keepers of Arcane Lore… so many names for SO MANY systems. It’s probably the most searched for advice throughout all Tabletop Role-playing Games (TTRPG’s). It’s understandable why. This hobby asks so much of the person running the game session: storytelling, rules knowledge, rules adjudication, narrative chops, acting, management skills … the list goes on depending on who you talk to.
Because of the breadth of skills required to do it well, running a TTRPG is one of the most fun, exhilarating, demanding and creative hobbies a person can pursue. Look no further than the “three Dungeon Masters who have been doing this for way too long” to illustrate how much time can be invested in the hobby and how much enjoyment and knowledge can be gleaned.
So how does one begin on this journey? Do you just jump in the deep end and accept the sage advice given by Lao-Tzu that “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?” That really hits me in the philosophical feels, young grasshopper … but I would recommend you take a look at these five handy tips as well!
1. Play
The first tip might seem the most obvious, but is sometimes also the one that is overlooked – even by experienced DM’s: Play.
You have to play the game to run it well. As we have discussed in multiple episodes, your perspective on the same situations in the game reads VERY differently depending on which side of the screen you happen to be on – what we call “the psychology of the game.” You’ll completely miss that perspective if you’ve never been or aren’t regularly a player. I mean, if you were going to design a cool, new way to play Monopoly, you probably should at least play one game of it, right? See what works and what doesn’t?
However, there are situations that can make playing the game before running it difficult or nearly impossible. Maybe you’re like me and DM Tony, who had a group of friends that heard about this “D&D thing,” wanted to play and elected us to be the DM … “You’ll be so good at it,” they said. “How hard could it be?” they said …
2. Stand on the Shoulders of Giants
If you’ve never played or run a TTRPG before, you’re in luck. We’re experiencing a renaissance of role-playing games with the rise of “geek culture” and popularity of live-stream play. Live-play shows, such as the immensely popular Critical Role, offer something that you can’t get from reading the core rule books of a system and one of the hardest things to explain about the hobby: What does a game look like?
I was never much into sports as a kid. I was all about books, music, D&D … The closest I ever came to sports was my pursuit of the martial arts and bodybuilding (that should be read as, things you can do alone!) However, later in life, I did start to get interested in football, even joined a Fantasy League (wait, you can literally play D&D with football?!) My point is, just by watching games played, I was able to begin to assimilate the rules, flow and strategy of the game, without having to check out the copy of Football for Dummies from my library.
In the same way, seeing D&D played, seeing the way different tables run, can allow you access to knowledge that you can’t get from the books. There are hundreds of live-play shows showcasing different systems and different types of DM’s, GM’s and player types. Not only are they great to understand the game and how it can be played, they are great fodder for ideas in your own game. This leads me to my next tip, and one of my favorites!
3. Kit-Bash
I recommend checking out my previous article about “kit-bashing” here.
As I state in the article, the creation of our own fantastical worlds, monsters, quests and adventures is one of the most attractive features of running a game and, generally, the thing that keeps us coming back again and again to this hobby. However, when you’re just starting to get your feet wet with all the rules, flow, pacing, strategy, etc. of being behind the screen, having to also create the whole adventure can be daunting. Where to start?
If you’ve never run a game before, I HIGHLY recommend running a published adventure. This does not have to be one of the massive, level-spanning adventures that are often published these days. It could be the adventure that came with the game. Maybe you find one on DM’S Guild. Maybe the social media forums recommend a certain one to start with. Whatever. It’s much easier to understand story flow, player hooks, encounter building and the like by seeing how writers who have devoted their lives to the craft have done it.
Where “kit-bashing” comes in, as the previous article discusses, is when you can begin to easily reskin these adventures, modules, dungeons and the like into your own fantastical world!
Remember, automobile designers aren’t constantly reinventing the wheel every time they build the cars of the future. You don’t have to either!
4. Steal Smart
Stealing Smart is what DM Thorin has begun to call my style. And, to tell you the truth … I LIKE IT!
As a DM or GM, I think there should be a level of enjoyment from what we call “D&D Homework.” In other words, the real fun of DM’ing, aside from what happens at the table, is the crafting of these stories, monsters, adventures and the like. And just like my analogy to learning the fundamentals of football, investing time in understanding how others DM pays off massive dividends.
There are several DMs I watch and listen to (aside from those running the games I play in) who have helped make me a better player, DM and enthusiast of this hobby. As I referenced in “Stand on the Shoulders of Giants,” there are nearly fifty years of knowledge that you can steal from to make your game better and develop your own unique style.
I am constantly watching, listening and reading other DM’s to understand how they handle certain situations and mechanics. How they try to improve their game. How they try to do something really fun. I name drop many of them on the show and will do the same here. Just remember that this list pales in comparison to what is out there … so much great advice, wisdom and so many ideas. I liken it to music: Every artist in popular culture is using the same sets of chord progressions and melodies. But it’s what they do with them that makes ALL the difference!
Matt Mercer (Critical Role, GM Tips, Force Grey); Matt Colville (Running the Game), Mike Shea (The Return of the Lazy Dungeon Master, Sly Flourish), Mark “Sherlock” Hulmes (DM101) and a special shout-out to DawnForgedCast for helping me sort out the crunchy combat mechanics of Pathfinder way back when!
5. Prepare Ye The Way
So, you grabbed the adventure that you’re going to explore. Your group of friends is ready to play. You have that candelabra your Mom had in the attic ready to be lit. How do you handle going from a couple of friends sitting around a table to playing D&D?
You prepare.
In a previous article, I reveal my “Session Prep Notes.” Feel free to steal them, I already did myself! As I say over and over again, only prep for the session that you’re going to run.
If you took my advice and grabbed a published adventure, you’re already three-quarters of the way there, just read the damn thing!
If you went the route of your own homebrewed adventure, don’t fret: just have a start (why are the characters all there and how the hell did they arrive!), a list of possible encounters (four or five should be enough for a night’s session) and some possible ideas of where you could end it (cliffhanger? climax? To tell you the truth, these endings generally introduce themselves while you’re playing.) You don’t really need to go much past that, because there will be time between sessions to deal with the fallout of “player decisions.”
And remember “Schrodinger’s Encounter”: Every encounter you have prepared only exists once the players open the box, so don’t worry about them “turning left” on you, you’ve got this!
Final Thoughts
Take a breath. Relax. Grab a drink and some snacks. All that’s happening is that you’re sitting down at the table with some friends to enjoy the most creative, imaginative and fun game in history. As DM Thorin says often: You’re a player too. Have faith that your players want to play more than they want you to be perfect.
There is no right way to play this game. You’re going to have games that you did everything right and your players didn’t have as much fun and games where you did everything wrong and they thought you were channeling Gary Gygax. It’s all par for the course.
Keep reading. Keep writing. Keep creating.
Until next time, heroes … LIVE THE ADVENTURE!
And if you haven’t listened to it yet, check out our episode on “39 Tips for New DMs”: